


Don’t We All Get a Second Chance?

by scared_to_live



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: F/M, Lewvi is mostly in the background, Tags will be updated as the story progresses, Time Travel AU, but everyone gets to travel back, but not like normal time traveling, i made up my own bullshit lore for this to make any sense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-09-13 23:35:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16901919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scared_to_live/pseuds/scared_to_live
Summary: Please don't cry one tear for meI'm not afraid of what I have to sayThis is my one and only voiceSo listen close, it's only for today—What if they all had a chance to go back? A chance to try and change their doomed fate?





	1. Arthur

**Author's Note:**

> Is it a good idea for me to be writing two separate fics at once? No.  
> Am I gonna do it anyways? Hells-fuckin-yeah I am

What had he done in life for it to get turned into this shitshow. 

Was it because of his cowardice? Was it because he was as horrible as his parents said? Maybe he hadn’t been as good of a person as he thought he had been. Or was this some sort of punishment for not finding Lewis in time? Maybe if he did, Lewis wouldn’t have died and everyone would’ve been happy. 

_(That’s what it is, right? That’s what it has to be.)_

Lewis disappeared. He died. He comes back as a ghost. He’s angry at Arthur for not finding him quick enough. He’s angry because Arthur didn’t try hard enough. Arthur was supposed to be his best friend. But now he’s dead. So he came back to return the favor, a punishment for disappointment. 

But if Arthur was supposed to die, then what was he doing in bed? 

He couldn’t move his head to see around the room or to check what day it was, but the sight of his ceiling with the sticky glowing stars above left a sense of familiarity in him. 

It was when his body started to move seemingly on its own accord Arthur began to panic. 

This wasn’t right, right? Why was he moving but not of his own volition. His body was going through the motions but his mind was somewhere else entirely. He couldn’t even scream. 

Then another voice joined his own, but wasn’t that his voice too? He couldn’t listen to it clearly unless he focused, was it the same the other way around?

_(Was his punishment being reduced to a screaming mass of thoughts trapped in his own head?)_

All Arthur could recall was something Vivi had told him when he wasn’t fully listening, too busy tinkering with his arm. That sometimes people would one day suddenly just be…more. That something would happen and a strong will would send their soul back to their bodies at a previous time to change the outcome or whatever. Two souls of one person possessing the same body. 

_(It never lasted more than a day at most, and it made zero sense; having two souls in one body but they’re both you, but it’s the best bet Arthur had.)_

He hadn’t realized he’d been lost in thought until his own mouth yelled out and a strong feeling of panicpanicpani _CPA **NICPANIC**_ entered his mind that he realized exactly why his younger self had been yelling. 

He was staring into a mirror, but instead of his normal reflection, what stared back was a ghost much like Lewis had been (oh god what had happened to Lewis while he’d been missing?).

The ghost in the mirror just looked so _tired_. Even with a skull for a face he still had bags under his eye sockets. He was dressed in an informal suit, and his prosthetic had been replaced by what appeared to be some sort of electricity? Oh, and his star pin was now a swirling mix of magenta and blue. It would’ve been a lot cooler is it wasn’t floating in front of a hole that had been ripped through his chest. 

When he tried to move once again, the reflection followed. Huh. Well, that’s interesting. 

“Wh-what?!” His younger self—god if he’s gonna be stuck like this he has to think of a better name for him than that—yelped. He was pressed against the bathroom door, doorknob pushing uncomfortably against his spine. 

The ghost just sighed. This might as well happen. 

This time as he spoke the words echoed out into the bathroom. 

“Shit, uhhh, fuck. Wish I had any time to figure out what to say before this. Okay so before I try and figure out any of what’s going on can you show me what the date is?” The reflection cringed at his voice, it was distorted and sounded like static. 

Arthur, now feeling much more awake than he had at first, blindly groped for his phone on the bathroom counter. He dared a quick glance at the phone screen, tearing Ghost Arthur’s eyes away from his reflection. 

The time was 12:17 on October 25, 2014. 

_(This was the day before he lost his arm._  
This was the day before he lost Lewis.  
This was the day before Vivi forgot Lewis existed.  
This was the day before everything went to shit. ) 

Ghost Arthur didn’t even realize that in the reflection his anchor cracked, or that his hair and arm were sparking wildly. 

Now Arthur was low key freaking out. First off, he wakes up with a killer headache, then he goes to pop some aspirin or whatever but instead he sees a dead guy in the mirror who’s now having a panic attack for some reason? He didn’t even say anything yet!

This morning was definitely in the top 3 of weird mornings for him. 

So naturally, Arthur did what he usually did when confronted with supernatural shit outside of Mystery Skulls. He called Vivi. 

Ghost Arthur, realizing just what was happening, started to panic even more. But it was too late, Vivi already picked up. 

“Morning Artie! Not that I’m ungrateful, but why are you calling so early-“ 

“Oh my god Vivi I need you to come here right fucking now there’s a ghost in my mirror and he’s panicking and I’m panicking and bring Lewis and Mystery with you holy fuCK-“ 

With a brief moment of immense willpower Ghost Arthur took control of his body and flung the phone out of his hands. 

Present Arthur felt conflicted. On one hand, he was freaking the fuck out because there’s a ghost in his mirror and the feeling of having control ripped from his body was very unnerving. On the other hand, this asshole ghost just threw his phone!

So instead of doing anything—mostly because he couldn’t really, he had no idea how to get control back of his fucking body—he just yelled out. 

“HEY! What was that for?!” He glared into the mirror as this guy used his body to reach for his phone. _(Oh my god this is so fucking weird what the fuck What The Fuck.)_

“Arthur? Arthur what’s going on?!!”

“Don’t worry about it, Vi” The static voice answered, closing the call and shutting off the phone. 

The ghost didn’t look any calmer than before, but his arm and hair weren’t sparking as much as they were so that was something. 

“Look,” The ghost started. “you don’t know what’s going on, I barely have an idea of why I’m here but it’s not enough to be sure. All I do know is that we’re both Arthur Kingsmen but I’m from four years into the future, and that I was just dropped off a fucking cliff and supposed to die.”

That was a heck of a doozy to drop on Present Arthur. In the immense confusion he managed to wrangle control back, widening his eyes and stepping away from the mirror until his back was flush against the door once again. 

“You- I- Supposed to die? You’re me?? What the hell??? The future???? We died?????”

The ghost scoffed. “No, _I_ died. Nothing is going to happen to _you_ until tomorrow, but hopefully nothing will happen at all since I’m here to try and prevent it.”

Arthur frowned. “What happens tomorrow?” 

“Well,” He started. “As much as I would love to tell you everything, I can guarantee that Vivi’s going to come busting down the door any minute now, and it’d be a lot more beneficial to explain with everyone here.”

The last thing he needed was this kind of vague bullshit, but it seems like it’s all he’s gonna get until everyone arrives. 

Just then the front door to the shop burst open and a flurry of steps sounded. 

Ghost Arthur looked about as heartbroken as he possibly could at the thought of seeing Lewis and Vivi and Mystery all alive and well and together again.

“Well, speak of the devil and she’ll come guns blazing.”


	2. Arthur Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well this took an angsty turn 
> 
> whoops

It wasn’t too long before the bathroom door was slammed open and Arthur tumbled onto the cool tile below. 

His left arm banged against the countertop on his way down. Hard. Arthur curled in on himself, eyes scrunched shut as he cradled his arm to his chest. 

Vivi came rushing in ready to fight a bitch but immediately stopped when she saw Arthur curled up on the floor. “Oh shit! Are you okay?” She knelt down and started looking over him for any injuries, prodding at the skin on his arm where a bruise was sure to form. 

He winced, eyes still screwed shut, and held onto Vivi to pull himself up into a sitting position. “Y-yeah, I’m good, I’m good, ‘s just a bruise” 

She stood up, grabbing his hand to pull him along. When Arthur opened his eyes she gasped, expression scared and grip tightening harshly. “You- Your eyes…” She trailed off, uncertain of herself _~~what was happening why were his eyes black and his iris’ glowing gold was there really something wrong what was going on~~_

Confused, Arthur looked to the doorway to see if Lewis and Mystery could explain to him what had made Vivi so afraid just by looking him in the eyes. 

“Guys..?”

Instead of answering him, though, they were staring horrified at the mirror where the ghost was still standing in his place. 

Vivi also looked back towards them, following their line of sight until she too saw the entity staring back at them. Utterly terrified, she dropped Arthur’s hand and backed away from him. 

Seeing their expressions broke his heart, they’d be forever burned into his mind. 

Arthur turned away from them and stared into the mirror along with them. 

His ghost had glowing yellow tears running down his skull, the pin which had only been cracked before was now shattered, fragmented pieces in blue and pink and red dimmed down drastically until they were near black. He was holding onto his left arm, which had gone back to sparking near dangerously. 

Nobody said anything for a long while. 

Mystery, with tears streaking down his face, stood on his hind legs and rested his front paws on the counter, shaking badly. 

“Arthur?” He asked in hushed whisper, ignoring the stares of the others on his back. He didn’t care, he didn’t care that he’d have so much to explain to them later, he didn’t care that he just chanced his past finding him, _he didn’t care_. All that mattered in the moment was the crying spirit who flinched away from him when he spoke. 

The ghost nodded and rubbed luminescent tears away from his face and nodded, exhaling a shaky breath he didn’t need. 

“What on earth happened?” Mystery was utterly terrified. This couldn’t have happened too far into the future or else he couldn’t be here, but this ghost—this Arthur—was just so _broken_ and _tired_ and _dead_. It made his heart ache from how one of his own was hurting so badly and there was nothing he could do to help. 

“That can’t be Arthur.” Lewis muttered, the first words he’s said since seeing the ghost. “Th-that can’t, it can’t be Arthur. Arthur’s right here and he’s fine and he’s _alive_.”

The ghost refused to acknowledge him, instead staring straight at Mystery. 

“There are many secrets you’ve kept from us, huh boy?” He mused, voice and expression falling flat. 

Mystery’s ears were pinned against his head and he whined. 

The ghost sighed, deciding to forget about it for now. “Look, there’s a lot of things that I need to explain in the very limited time I have. And this sucks because I’m alone here and I have no idea what the fuck is going on, I barely know what I am at the moment, and I have no idea what’s going to happen to me once I get expelled from my past body.” The ghost shrugged, opting to not look at anyone and instead stare straight ahead. 

“As much as I would love to have this talk in the bathroom I think it’d be better to grab the big mirror from the attic and bring it into the living room to talk there.” said Arthur _~~the one that’s alive the one that’s real the true Arthur.~~_

He tried to move past Lewis to do just that but, 

“Arthur, you… How do you know that the ghost is you? That this isn’t some kind of trick or-or something else?” He floundered, drowning in his own denial. Arthur was his best friend, brother in all but blood, how could he have died so soon in the future? _~~How had Lewis failed him so?~~_

The ghost in the mirror gave an empty chuckle. “You know, I honestly wish that it was. That I didn’t just die and wake up in my own room the day before I lost almost everything, that the last four years of my life had just been bad dream that I couldn’t wake from. We can’t always get what we want, Pepper, and as funny as you denying my death is, I’d rather tell my story while I still have the time.” 

Vivi clutched onto Lewis’ arm, pulling his attention away from whoever _~~it wasn’t Arthur it couldn’t be Arthur how was he dead he couldn’t be dead so soon~~_ was in the mirror. There was none of the usual happiness she had when interacting with the paranormal, instead it was replaced with a somber smile. “Lew, there’s no harm in listening to what he’s gotta say, right?”

He relented, moving out of the doorway. 

Arthur sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Alright guys, go to the living room and just… sit tight for now. I’ll be there in a second.” He left, dragging the ghost out of the bathroom and back into his mind with him. 

Lewis then left the bathroom closely followed by Vivi who was still holding onto him. Mystery stood there a moment more, listening to the near silent words exchanged between them and the dragging steps coming from above as Arthur grabbed the big mirror from where it was stored. There was no use standing around in the bathroom by himself but it did offer a break from the insanity unleashing itself. 

Sooner than he would’ve liked, Vivi called out to him. 

Mystery left the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so I figured out a sort of update schedule?? I work on a chapter of this and as soon as I publish it I work on a chapter for my other fic and just switch between them until they’re done or I just stop writing
> 
> if you wanna talk about this fic or just anything in general my tumblr is @reaper-of-the-meep and my msa side blog is @msa-more-like-msgay but I only use it to yell over people’s art but maybe I’ll start talking about my fics on there instead of just vagueing about them on my main lmao


	3. Oh

Arthur walked into the living room only to see Vivi doubled over on the couch, head cradled in her arms as Lewis held her close with Mystery curled up on her other side, head resting in her lap. 

“Hey Vi, you okay?” He asked, dragging the mirror in front of the group. It was still facing towards the ground, their reflections left unseen. 

She just groaned, uncurling just to lean heavily on Lewis. “This is probably the worst fucking migraine I’ve had in my life.” 

Mystery whined as Lewis pat her back sympathetically. 

Arthur shrugged. “Hey, I’m in the same boat here, I woke up with my head about to split with how full… it felt…” 

Oh. 

Oh no. 

He quickly leaned the mirror back so their reflections could be visible, terrified of what would be seen. _~~Could she have really died so soon after him what was going on-~~_

His ghost was frozen in fear, and while Mystery and Lewis’ reflections were relatively normal, Vivi’s was pulsating with an icy blue sheen. 

Lewis looked away from her reflection to _~~his best friend that died that he would fail~~_ the ghost. “What’s going on?!”

He was trembling. “Right before I died Mystery was being attacked by this weird tree lady and Vivi was unconscious in the back of the van when that was going on but…” He trailed off, afraid of what he himself was implying. 

There was a flash of blue light and in place of Vivi’s reflection was another ghost. 

The hair on her skull was crystalline, pink glasses floating before of her face and a blue scarf sitting where her throat should’ve been and covering her shoulders. She wore a long flowing dress that bled from black to a bright blue which pooled like water around her feet, adorned with snowflakes fastened to where the fabric split right under her breast. Beating above her was a yellow heart-shaped locket with traces of magenta swirling around it. 

More important, though, was that she had a deep gash in her torso and wasn’t moving. 

The living Arthur was frozen, Lewis looked as if he was about to cry, and Mystery was growling out. 

Vivi sat up and kneeled before the mirror, hand resting on its sheer surface. Her face was expressionless as she stared hard into her reflection. She turned to Arthur’s ghost hoping for an explanation. 

_(Was is even possible for him to look even more dead?)_

She was conflicted as hell. First she finds out that her best friend dies in four years _~~that’s such a short time away he doesn’t deserve to die so young~~_ , and then she ends up dying right after him! 

_(What kind of future was this where they’re allowed to die with their whole lives ahead of them?)_

“She…she should be out for a little while she gets her bearings.” The first ghost was just so _tired_. “So just, let me start from the beginning, don’t say anything until I’m done”

“Tomorrow is the day where we went to explore the cave. While in the cave I got a very bad feeling, but like every other time I was ignored. Now, I don’t… I don’t know what happened in the cave. We all went in but only Vivi, Mystery, and I left, and we all lost something. I lost my arm, Vivi lost all memory of Lewis, and Mystery lost our trust. I spent the next four years wasting away as I searched endlessly for Lewis, trying to find out where he’d gone, why he’d just disappear on us. Somewhere along the way the van broke down in front of a mansion with an angry ghost who wanted to kill me once we got inside, and he’d almost succeeded when Vivi stepped out and shielded me. The ghost tried to offer her his anchor but I pulled her away and ran like hell. He got angry and tried to kill all of us by making the mansion collapse, but we managed to escape in time.”

“A little while later we were on the road when the van started to break down again. I got confused and looked behind us and there was a giant gothic looking semi speeding right for us. So, I panicked and slammed my prosthetic arm down onto the dashboard and fried it, but the van started to work again so whatever I guess, not like I have much use for that arm anymore anyways. But while driving away this plant lady breaks open the windshield and starts attacking Mystery, she gets real crazy once she sees his blood, but we get driven off the road and into the side of Lance’s shop before she can do too much damage to either of us. I black out for a bit, but when I come to the ghost has me in his hands and he threw me down the back of the semi which is actually the cave you’re going to tomorrow. So I get chased around by little ghosts for a bit until I’m at a ledge and the ghost picks me up and reveals to me that it’s actually Lewis. I cried out his name as he dropped me onto the stalagmites below and I woke up in my bed here, four years in the past with another chance to make everyone happy.” 

Mystery kept his head low, a near silent cry escaping from him at the mentions of his failures as a guardian and protector. _~~How could he have been so careless to have let his past come back to kill what he loved? Why hadn’t he done better? What Was Wrong With Him?~~_

The rest of the group sat in silent shock, processing just how much information was just given to them in such a short span of time. 

“I killed you?” Whispered Lewis. 

Ghost Arthur, in a flash of sparks, was back to looking as he did while alive. Well, plus the black sclera and that his prosthetic was glowing yellow. 

Oh, and the fact the hole in his chest looked much more gruesome. 

Arthur sharply inhaled to cover up the gag that rose out of his throat when he saw what would become of him in four years time. 

The ghost looked at Lewis for the first time since arriving and gave a mirthless smile. “No, you haven’t done anything yet, big guy. My Lewis dropped me like I was nothing more than the scum of the earth, though. And if I’m being honest I don’t even know why he did it either. I guess it’s because he was mad at me for not finding him before he died. And even then that bastard had the audacity to look _guilty_ right after he let go!” He ended with a humorless chuckle. _~~God, when did he get so sarcastic and cynical and cold and tired and just so fucking d o n e~~_

“This is a lot, Arthur.” Vivi spoke out with her voice filled with tears, staring at the ghosts in fear and intrigue _~~and sadness and sadness and sadness why did they die like this-~~_

Arthur’s ghost hummed, reaching over to see if he could touch Vivi’s ghost in the mirror. When he saw that he could, the ghost grabbed onto her hand with a sigh. She was as cold as ice, her fingertips freezing his own. He couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“I know.”

“What do you want us to do?” Lewis, as scared as he was, he wasn’t going to let this outcome play out as it had. No one was going to die, not if he could help it. Not when he was around to protect them.

_(Would he have to protect them from himself, though?)_

“Do what you will with the information I’ve given to you. Let’s just wait for Vivi to wake up and we can talk more then.” He yawned, dark bags under his eyes more prominent than ever. 

Present Arthur huffed. “Does death always make people that much more cynical?” 

His ghost, who had previously closed his eyes as he leaned back, opened one of them to stare at his reflection. “Nah, I think it’s the ‘getting murdered by your best friend that you loved too much for your own good after spending literal years of your life killing yourself trying to find him’ that did it for me.”

“Oh.”

Lewis was left to ponder in silence what was meant by ‘loved too much for your own good’. _ ~~Did Arthur love him? Was that what he was saying or was it something else he was so confused everyone’s dying his future self is partially to blame why did this happen to them-~~_

It was quiet for a few moments more until a groan sounded and bright blue eye-lights flicked to life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the art i did of this ghost!vivi 
> 
> https://im-having-an-art-attack.tumblr.com/post/181098191945/its-vivi-time


	4. Vivi Time !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

Vivi was cold. 

Voices were swimming all around her. 

She could hear her own voice outside of her body, along with Arthur’s and two other people she couldn’t place. 

One of them made her head hurt. 

Or was she already in pain?

Either way, she couldn’t make out what was being said no matter how hard she tried to focus. 

Maybe instead of trying to do whatever this was, Vivi should be trying to figure out what had happened. 

She remembers waking up in the van and getting knocked out right after, then being dragged out of the van that was crashed in Arthur’s uncle’s shop, and a tree lady trying to stab Mystery. 

She remembers grabbing her bat and slamming it into the tree lady’s face. 

She remembers struggling against those giant shears and losing. 

She remembers getting her hand cut off and being forced onto the ground. 

She remembers looking up as the tree lady stabbed into her torso while a kitsune jumped over her dying body to attack whatever had just killed her. 

What she doesn’t remember is how she got into Arthur’s living room. 

Vivi wasn’t stupid, some supernatural shenanigans must’ve happened. 

First off, she knew she had died. There was a huge gash across her torso where she had been stabbed to prove it. 

Second, there was another one of her voice in her head. It was hard to make out exactly what it was saying, but it was her voice. 

Wait,

She’s read about this sort of thing occurring before, where at death a strong enough will could send the soul of a person back to a point where they could change the future for the better. 

Did she get sent back into the past?

Vivi didn’t think her will to figure out what had happened four years ago or why Arthur was tearing himself apart looking for this Lewis guy was strong enough, but she’ll take what she can get. 

As long as she won’t end up leaving Arthur all alone. 

That’s all that matters. 

A warm hand grabbed hers and it sent static through her arm.

Arthur..?

The voices stopped and the silence was unbearable. 

_(With so much going through her head you would think silence was a blessing.)_

She groaned out, pulling her hand away from whoever was holding it _~~was it Arthur who else could it be please don’t let it be him~~_ and her vision flickered for a moment before settling on the mirror in front of her. 

Oh fuck. 

She was…

Wow. 

What a way to become what you’ve spent your whole life fascinated with. 

She was sitting in front of the couch next to Arthur, and sitting behind her was Mystery and a man that made her world fuzzy. 

They all looked so tired. 

Arthur spoke up, but what the hell happened to him? _~~Oh god did he die too his eyes are black and his arm is glowing there’s a hole in his chest what the fuck happened to him.~~_

“Welcome back, sleeping beauty.” His voice was static. “How much did you manage to catch?”

She turned her skull from side to side, admiring the way light refracted in her ‘hair’ and her appearance in general, though the experience was dampened by the huge wound across her midsection. “Absolutely nothing, care to fill me in?” 

Ghost Vivi sounded a lot calmer that she had any right to be, but she was always the more level headed one in the group. She didn’t have much to process other than the fact that she and Arthur both died and were sent back to the past together. 

_(Oh if only it was that simple.)_

Ghost Arthur sighed. “Remember when you were telling me that I was killing myself to find Lewis?”

“Arthur…” She didn’t know what to expect but it couldn’t be anything good, her expectations filled with a sense of dread. 

This feeling grew as his voice filled with malice. “It turns out that sometime after he disappeared Lewis died and I wasted who knows how long trying to find him, that Lewis was the pink mansion ghost from a while back, and that he threw me down a cliff into a giant pit of spikes because apparently I’m just the worst person in the world for not finding him quick enough or whatever.”

Yikes. 

There was a lot to unpack there, especially with the hatred for Lewis in his voice, but more importantly-

“Lewis killed you? He died and then, like, actually killed you? That’s why you’re here with me?” _~~Oh god damn it all, can her friend never catch a break? What did he do to deserve this?~~_

“Yeah, speaking of that. How did you die?” Ghost Arthur asked, over the initial shock and sadness of learning Vivi died as well. He just felt numb. 

_(So much has happened in so little time he couldn’t have processed it all without exploding, this was the only way to cope.)_

Both Vivi’s winced but the ghost replied. “Mystery was getting me out of the crashed van when this tree bitch comes and starts to attack him, so I got my bat and hit her across the face. She got angry with the both of us and the scissors she had got really big. I was able to hold her off for a little bit until she knocked my bat away and chopped my hand clean off. Then she stabbed me and a kitsune jumped over my body and started tearing her apart but I died before I could see the end of the fight.” 

Mystery looked like he was about to cry in a way that seemed way too human. He placed his head over her shoulder and even if she couldn’t feel it, she appreciated the gesture. 

“I’m so sorry that I couldn’t protect you.” He whispered, closing his eyes as a few tears escaped. 

Well damn. 

As if her day couldn’t get any fucking weirder. 

“You know what? I’m not even going to bother questioning you right now, Mystery.” He flinched at the harshness of her words. “What I am going to ask is who the hell is this pink guy behind me?” 

Said pink guy looked incredibly heartbroken.

“Oh him?” Started her Arthur “That’s Lewis, before he disappeared and decided he hated me like no tomorrow.” He waved his glowing hand in the air in a flippant gesture. 

Could she feel colder?

“Huh.” Though her head wasn’t as painful as it had been at first, Vivi still couldn’t look at him directly. So she didn’t. _~~No matter how much his expression would eventually kill her on the inside.~~_

Meanwhile, the living Vivi was at a loss. What could she do here? Was she to be grieving for herself? 

More silence stretched out and she decided that she had enough of watching her ghost ignore Lewis. 

“What happened to you? Why can’t you remember him?” This had been eating away at her since Arthur had told them. 

The room became significantly colder than it did before. 

Her ghosts voice felt like ice. 

“I’ve been asked this question so many times. I don’t know why I can’t remember Lewis, or that we dated, or that he existed in the first place. I’m sorry that there’s been someone that I’m supposed to be missing and that I can’t bring myself to care. Because I can’t care. Lewis didn’t mean anything to me before, and he means even less to me now since he killed Arthur.”

Tears were openly flowing down Lewis’ face. 

Vivi just sighed disappointedly. _~~What the hell happened to them? There were so many missing pieces and nothing was making sense anymore what the hell happened in that cave~~_

“I’m sorry.”

Her ghost gave a cold, bitter chuckle. “Don’t apologize.” 

Mystery, who hadn’t said a word after his initial apology to his future dead friend, suddenly spoke up again. “You said that everything went wrong after the cave?” 

“Yeah? Weren’t you listening to a word I said?” The yellow ghost replied, leaning forward to hold his chin in his hand. 

The annoyance in his tone was ignored. “Have you ever tried going back to the cave?”

Ghost Vivi spoke up. “We tried to but whenever we got close Arthur would start having a panic attack and I got sicker and sicker until I passed out.” 

“So there was a chance that Lewis was still in that cave after the day had passed.”

The living Arthur shuddered at all the unwanted emotions being pressed into his head. 

“No, because he would’ve came to find us if he was, plus we sent Mystery who couldn’t find anything. Also that wouldn’t explain Vivi just forgetting his fucking existence in the first place.” He seethed. 

“There’s something that must’ve happened to Vivi in order for her to forget Lewis. What could’ve possibly caused this?” Mystery muttered, mostly to himself. It wasn’t lost on Vivi, mostly because he was still leaning over her shoulder. 

She wondered out loud, “What about a dying wish? I remember reading about those somewhat recently, how powerful they could be. Instances of people forgetting those they watched die because the dead didn’t want them to remember. What if…” _~~This was painful to say way to painful to even think where did she think she was going with this~~_

The glare she received wasn’t quite enough to shut her up. 

_(Even though that would’ve been the best choice she could’ve made that day.)_

“What if Lewis died in the cave?”

Ghost Arthur got annoyed and angry and numb and cold and bitter and scared and tired and so many emotions swirling together at once that he didn’t know what to do or which one to focus on. 

Then, pure, unbridled rage took the reigns. 

Rage was powerful. Powerful enough to grant him complete control of his living body. 

He stood from the floor and looked down to Vivi, eyes glowing and appearance sparking. _~~He didn’t notice that her eyes were black as his reflections had been.~~_

Arthur’s breathing was harsh, chest heaving with the force put into each inhale and exhale. 

“Arthur calm down!” One of the Vivi’s _~~he couldn’t care to differentiate right now he didn’t care he didn’t care~~_ yelled out. 

“You-“ He started, voice crackling and popping like a power outlet. “You don’t get to tell me to do anything. How dare you try and tell me Lewis died in that fucking cave. That I wasted all of my time driving myself up the wall trying to find my best friend when he died the night I lost him, that I didn’t even have a chance to begin with.” 

With each breath he leaned forward until they were practically nose to nose. 

She looked fucking terrified. 

**Good.**

Mystery growled. “Arthur, you need to back away.” 

He laughed. 

His living self, who stood in his place in the mirror, cried. All the depressing and stressing and anxiety-inducing emotions being pushed onto him unwillingly. _~~He couldn’t move couldn’t think couldn’t b r e a t h e~~_

Lewis stood from Vivi’s other side, fully prepared to isolate Arthur from the situation no matter how much the increasing pressure in his skull hurt.

Just as he was about to intervene a bright pink flash of light shone from the mirror, blinding them all. 

Once the light died down they all turned to the mirror and what Arthur saw caused his vision to tunnel. 

In place of Lewis’ reflection stood another ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how to write ghost!arthur tbh
> 
> for vivi I’m just making her colder because she’s got an ice motif, and for lewis I give him more of a temper because of his fire motif, but I’m at a loss for artie
> 
> what characteristics does electricity have?
> 
> for now I’m just making him more,,,,, intense


	5. Lewis?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s no reason this chapter took so long

Lewis didn’t need any time to process his death like the other two had needed to. He had a full four years time to do that on his own. 

What he did need to process was the fact that he was so blinded by his rage that not only did he drop his former best friend to his death, Lewis also got to watch his ~~former?~~ girlfriend get impaled with a huge pair of shears while he stood useless on the sidelines. 

He had to watch as the two most important _~~but Arthur killed him how could he care about his murderer~~_ people in his life bled out to death one after another. 

Even worse, he couldn’t even help that giant fox thing that _might’ve_ been Mystery with the tree bitch that stabbed Vivi. Instead he just cried over her bleeding body, cradling her against his chest, uncaring of the blood potentially staining his suit. 

What had he done?

A warm feeling encompassed his body, causing him to panic. He couldn’t fade now! There was so much that he needed to somehow fix and he needed to apologize to Arthur and Vivi for not being able to save them or- or- he just !

In a flash of bright pink light he was standing in Arthur’s living room. 

Arthur—who had been hunched over Vivi looking absolutely livid—took a glance between Lewis and the mirror. 

Arthur’s eyes…

_~~Oh god what was going on? His eyes were black and glowing and he was sparking and Vivi’s eyes were the same and her reflection in the mirror propped up in front of her was a ghost like he had been but Arthur’s reflection was crying and panicking and and and-~~ _

...

If Arthur was pissed before, the burning flame of a thousand stars couldn’t even compare.

Time seemed to slow as the next events unfolded. 

In a spark of lightning Arthur launched himself over Vivi and straight into Lewis’ chest, both of them colliding with the hard floor. Vivi jumped up and was fully prepared to intervene when sharp teeth grabbed onto her scarf and pulled her back into a furry body, though she continued to struggle against Mystery, uncaring of his sudden presence. 

Lewis was too distraught to fight back as he was tackled into the ground. 

“You…” Arthur started, head hung low so that even though his hands were around Lewis’ throat his eyes were kept hidden. 

“How _dare_ you.”

Lewis could’ve cried when Arthur looked up. His eyes were still glowing, the yellow irises sparking from his anguish. But that wasn’t what caused Lewis to choke back a sob, well, other than the hands around his throat. 

Arthur’s eyes were filled with un-shed tears of anger and of anguish, of love and of hatred, of misery and of confusion. 

His words were shaky as he tried to suppress the cries trying to get loose. “You-you think you can come back? You think that this is okay? What the fuck Lewis! What could’ve caused you to be sent back here? Huh? Y-you can’t just- you can’t do this! You can’t drop me off a cliff after I spent so long trying to find you. You can’t just throw me away like I’m _nothing._ What the fuck is going on Lewis?!”

His hands were too shaky to hold a steady grip. 

Lewis was confused, afraid, and utterly heartbroken. But he couldn’t process anything other than Arthur’s hands gripping his throat. So instead of acting on the storm of emotions crawling in his head, Lewis just grew angrier and angrier until he couldn’t possibly hold it back. 

His hands, which were significantly larger than Arthur’s, latched onto his wrists with a steel grip, leaving him gasping for breath. _~~It’s been so long since he’s needed to breathe.~~_

“What going on with me? _What’s going on with me_? You’re asking like I should know! Getting my revenge was supposed to feel good, to feel _right_ , but instead I’m grieving over the death of my murderer.” Lewis sat up, keeping Arthur’s wrists in a death grip against his chest. “You, Kingsmen, have some fucking explaining to do.”

The pain amplified all the emotions swirling in his head. 

Lewis shoved Arthur off of him at the confused _~~and tired and angry~~_ look he received. 

“Don’t give me that look. Don’t act like you don’t know. Don’t FUCKING tell me that you don’t know what you’ve done to me, Arthur.”

_(But what exactly had he done?)_

The continued to argue back and forth, anger progressing and voices rising and limbs shaking until Mystery—still lacking his disguise—felt the need to finally intervene. 

He took his tails and separated Lewis and Arthur, forcing distance between them. 

Lewis was astonished at Mystery’s form, his anger dissipating for the moment as he stared, argument nulled in astonishment. 

On the other hand, Arthur was a deer trapped in headlights. His eyes were wide, mouth clamped shut, jaw clenched to the point where his teeth ached, breathing shakilly, and shaking violently. He clutched at his left arm as if it was his lifeline, dirty nails digging into the flesh of his shoulder. 

He struggled his way out of Mystery’s grasp and onto the floor, crawling backwards until his back was against the mirror where their living reflections watched on in horror. 

“Y-you-“ He stammered, ignoring the worried stares as his vision tunneled in on Mystery. 

“My…m-my arm!” Arthur was curled in on himself at this point, shielding his left arm from the kitsune. 

Vivi frowned and slipped out Mystery’s grasp and over to her crying friend. 

His weight against the mirror increased. The glass wouldn’t hold much more, brittled with age. 

“Hey, Hey Arthur look at me.” She kneeled before him, blocking his view of _~~the terrifying fox that had mutilated him~~_ Mystery. 

Meanwhile, as she uttered soothing words to Arthur, Lewis was left confused in Mystery’s grasp. 

When he threw Arthur down the cliff, all he felt was an unyielding rage. Then as he fell Lewis wanted nothing more than to bring him to safety. Just a few seconds ago he was ready to beat Arthur’s face into the ground, but now? Lewis didn’t know what to do. Did he really hate him that much? It seemed like Arthur didn’t even know he killed him! And the memories from that night only got blurrier with time. 

Who’s to say what really happened in the cave. 

While Lewis and Arthur were both coming down from their adrenaline fueled rage (plus an anxiety attack in Arthur’s case), Mystery was left to decipher what he could from this situation. 

It wasn’t long that he had the chance to do so. Not when a crippling headache and a faint red glow was assaulting his senses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took for-fucking-ever I’ve been busy playing splatoon and monster prom lmao
> 
> if anyone wants to help me write or had any ideas for this my tumblr is @reaper-of-the-meep

**Author's Note:**

> anyone who can guess what song the lyrics in the summary comes from gets extra credit


End file.
